Translated literally, Marimekko means “Mary-dress”, but it has other connotations as well. Mekko is an old Finnish word that means “little girl’s dress” which suited the fresh, new look of Marimekko in 1951, while at the same time connecting to Finnish tradition. There is further resonance in the name: “Mari” is an anagram for “Armi”, thus linking the company closely to its charismatic founder, Armi Ratia. The depth of association of the company name extends to the names chosen for the fabric patterns and fashions. While many are straightforward, others defy translation. Some may have been chosen for their phonetic qualities or are deliberate misspellings that will be understood only by Finns as either humorous or old-fashioned. Others are in dialect or are old adages that may be unfamiliar today even to Finns. These will still have a phonetic impact or emotional content for most Finns, but probably not for others.

Linguists who try to define word must confront several issues. The most important of these is that if they try to define words using only one set of criteria, e.g., phonological (i.e., pronounceability in isolation), morphological (i.e., potential for taking affixes), semantic (i.e., as units of meaning), or syntactic (i.e., freedom of movement in clauses), they cannot cover all the data that must be accounted for. However, if they try to use criteria from all four domains, they get contradictory results. Is un- a word in What does un– in unlikely mean? Is t a word in That t should be capitalized? Is Queen of England’s a word in the Queen of England’s children? Is kick the bucket a word when it means the same as die? Is n’t a word in Don’t do it now! when it is quite clearly related to not? All five are words by some definition and yet they are not words, certainly not like word itself is a word.